The present invention was originally disclosed in U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/199,671 filed on Nov. 20, 2008, and priority is claimed to the provisional patent application.
The present invention relates generally to the field of identification of personal equipment and more specifically to a method for personalizing a stethoscope.
A stethoscope is an acoustic medical device for auscultation, or listening to the internal sounds of an animal body. It is often used to listen to heart sounds. It is also used to listen to intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins. Less commonly, “mechanic's stethoscopes” are used to listen to internal sounds made by machines, such as diagnosing a malfunctioning automobile engine by listening to the sounds of its internal parts. Stethoscopes can also be used to check scientific vacuum chambers for leaks, and for various other small-scale acoustic monitoring tasks.
Acoustic stethoscopes are the most commonly used stethoscopes. Acoustic stethoscopes operate on the transmission of sound from the chest piece, via air-filled hollow tubes, to the listener's ears. The chest piece usually consists of a diaphragm (plastic disc) and a housing that supports the diaphragm. When the diaphragm is placed on the patient, body sounds vibrate the diaphragm, creating acoustic pressure waves which travel up the tubing to the listener's ears. A nurse or doctor using a stethoscope can listen to the sounds of a patient's body to determine normal functioning and abnormalities.
Stethoscopes must be carefully manufactured to insure proper operation. This means using the right materials and following exact specifications to insure optimum sound transfer. Because of the care and detail that must be put into the production of stethoscopes, high quality stethoscopes can be very expensive. As with anything valuable, owners like to place their name on it, or identify it in some way, so that if lost, they can later positively identify it. In the past, doctors and nurses have added items like name tags, smiley face buttons, and little clip-on stuffed animals. While these personalization techniques may put a smile on the patient's face, during examination, they each suffered from the same deficiency. Each personalization item had to be attached to the exterior of the stethoscope. Thus, each item could get knocked off and lost, could get in the way during exams, and none of the attached items allow for full sterilization of the stethoscope.
What is needed in the field is a way to personalize a stethoscope without incurring any of the drawbacks of the above, prior methods. The ideal personalization technique would not interfere with the normal operation of the stethoscope, would provide positive identification without the possibility of getting knocked off of the stethoscope, and would allow for full sterilization of the stethoscope.